The SCOR has developed a comprehensive, organized & systematic approach for the study of pathogenic mechanisms of human pulmonary fibrosis, involving 9 different faculty in 5 different departments in the College of Medicine and one department in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Business Administration. Of particular interest are fibrotic lung diseases associated with cigarette smoking and environmental exposure to inorganic particulates. One major goal is to characterize the clinical and pathophysiological expression of fibrotic lung disease in a carefully described patient population. Traditional approaches to the study of this disease have been supplemented with novel approaches which may offer new opportunities for diagnosis and treatment and, by identifying causative agents, rational approaches to prevention. A second major goal of the Program is to elucidate cellular pathogenic mechanisms of fibrosis through the study of lung cell interactions and with etiologic agents. The focus of the SCOR is the fibrogenic process as it is expressed in different disease states, under the hypothesis that this process shares common pathogenic pathways in different diseases although caused by different etiologic agents.